Team poker game

ABSTRACT

A team-poker tournament includes having at least two teams play poker either for a predetermined period of time, a predetermined number of hands, or until the members of one team have no chips remaining. A team captain may call a timeout and implement strategic moves.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the field of card games, and moreparticularly to the field of poker games.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Poker is the prototypical individual game. Everything a poker playerdoes, from betting, to bluffing, to playing psychological games, isdesigned solely to benefit the player and to work to the detriment ofall other players. As Anthony Holden explained in his book, The BigDeal: One Year as a Professional Poker Player, “Whether he likes it ornot, a man's character is stripped bare at the poker table; if the otherplayers read hi m better than he does, he has only himself to blame.Unless he is both able and prepared to see himself as others do, flawsand all, he will be a loser in cards, as in life.”

Poker's popularity has risen in recent years, largely as the result oftelevision coverage, Internet sites, and a new emphasis on the game fromcasinos. Not only have casinos devoted more of their gambling space topoker, sales of poker books and participation in online pokertournaments have skyrocketed. Poker has an interesting mixture of skilland luck that seems to attract gamblers confident in their ability tohave enough skill to conquer luck.

To capitalize on this increased interest in poker, some casinos nowoffer poker games, such as pai gow poker, that pit a player against thehouse. The object of pai-gow poker is to make two poker hands that beatthe house hand. A player divides seven cards into a five-card hand (highhand) and a two-card hand (low hand). If both hands beat the house'shand, the player wins, if both are worse, the house wins, and a split isa push.

Other poker games of this type include Caribbean Stud, Let'em Ride, andTri Card Poker. These types of poker games are also available online,but again, they involve individual play.

Another avenue of increased interest involves poker tournaments, whereplayers compete against each other for prize money awarded to those whosurvive the longest in games against other players. Tournaments takeplace online and at casinos.

Different tournaments involve different poker games. For example, one ofthe most popular games is Texas Hold'em, where each player firstreceives two cards face down. A round of betting ensues, as playersdecide whether to remain in or fold. The dealer than deals fivecommunity cards face up as follows. The first three cards are called the“flop,” and the players can bet after these are turned over. The fourthcard is called the “turn,” and provides another opportunity to bet. Thefifth card, or the “river,” is the last opportunity to bet. The gameeither has an upper limit for bets or is unlimited. The player with thebest hand formed from the two face-down cards and the five communitycards takes the pot, as does any player remaining after all the othershave folded.

There are several variations of this type of poker, such as Omaha. Othertypes of poker, such as five-card draw and its variations (e.g.,Lowball), and seven-card stud and its variations (such as Razz), do nothave shared cards. These games are available at casinos or online. Theyall share one attribute, however. Players are not allowed to collaboratewith one another. Any attempts to act in concert with another playerconstitute cheating.

Although there is always an interest in developing new poker games,these have been limited to individual games. There has been little ifany interest in playing poker in teams, as the team concept runs counterto the inherent individualism of poker.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method of playing a poker tournament involving teams with multiplemembers comprises: having the members of each team play hands of poker;selecting a game-ending criterion; determining the scores of each teamwhen the game-ending criterion is met; and declaring a winner with thebest determined score.

The following description of a team-concept gambling game will makeclear to persons of ordinary skill objects and advantages of theinvention. Both the previous general description and the followingdetailed description, however, merely provide illustrations andexamples, and do not restrict the invention defined by the claims.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate implementations of the invention,and together with the description, help explain the principles of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary layout for a team poker tournament consistentwith the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a possible team poker tournament consistentwith the invention.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary layout for another team poker tournamentconsistent with the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, the same reference numbers in the figuresrefer to the same or similar elements, unless indicated otherwise. Thefigures, however, merely show some, but not all, examples consistentwith the claimed invention.

In one implementation consistent with the invention, several teamscompete against each other. The size of teams is not important, and may,for example, depend on the number of teams. A typical size may be threeto five players. Preferably, each team has a captain who could be one ofthe players, but need not be.

In one type of team tournament, each game lasts for a preset period oftime, such as two hours. Alternatively, each game lasts for apredetermined number of hands, such as fifty hands. In yet anotheralternative, similar to individual tournaments, a game could continueuntil only the members of one team have any chips left.

FIG. 1 shows an arrangement of players around a poker table 100 with adealer 105. Players 110, 130, and 150 are on one team, and players 120,140, and 160 are on another team. Alternatively, the players on a teammay sit next to each other to possibly make it easier for a captain tomake the strategic moves explained below.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing possible steps in a team pokertournament. Preferably, the teams provide an entrance fee (Step 210).The amount often reflects the size of the reward for the winners.

At the start of play, each person on each team preferably receives adesignated amount of chips, for example, $10,000 (Step 220). It does notmatter which poker game the players play. It could be Texas Hold'em, orone of the variations, draw poker, or one of its variations, or studpoker, or one of its variations. The teams could also play a differentkind of poker, a different type of card game, or some other gameinvolving betting.

After receiving the chips, the players on each team play the designatedgame according to the rules of that game (Step 230). It is possible,however, to modify the rules as necessary for team tournament play.

In addition, each team can have a captain who would have a designatednumber of timeouts (e.g., ten) or a designated number of timeouts eachtime unit (e.g., three per hour) (Step 240). Alternatively, the numberof timeouts could differ for each hour of the game. For example, duringthe first hour of a two-hour game, the captain might have threetimeouts, but only have two timeouts during the second hour.

A captain may call a time out to execute any number of strategicmaneuvers to try to win the match (Step 250). For example, the captainmay switch the players' seats of his players to allow a more aggressiveplayer to bid a certain hand (Step 252). The captain could also remove aplayer from the game and give that player's chips to another player,such as one having better luck (Step 254). Another option would be torequest a new deck (Step 256), or to implement a poker strategy (Step258) such as refraining from betting a hand that has no ace, king, orbetter. In general, a player could take any legal action that thecaptain deems appropriate to win.

The game continues until no time remains or until one team has no morechips, or whatever game ending criterion is chosen (Step 260). In atournament, the games would continue until one team prevailed (Step280).

This team tournament has several advantages over conventional individualpoker games. Using teams can foster rivalries. For example, duringbaseball season, a New York team can compete against one from Boston.Also, the team concept ensures that the last hand will have at least oneplayer from a different city. This will maintain interest better than atournament where the last hand involves two players from the same cityor team.

In addition, the team concept allows the audience to see the strategycalls of the team captain. In this sense, a team tournament involves theaudience more than individual tournaments.

The team concept also allows several variations. The teams can beinvolved in leagues. Each team would receive points equal to the numberof chips a team gains above those received at the beginning (and teamscould lose points as well if they have fewer chips at the end that theystarted with). The league winner would be the team with the most pointsat the end of a season. Alternatively, the winning team can just becredited with a win, in which case the league winner would be the teamwith the most wins.

Another variation would have'several simultaneous games with playersfrom the teams at different tables. The tables could be playing the samegame or different games. FIG. 3 shows a layout of this type of set-up,with three games, three team members of three teams, and three dealers.A captain's strategy in such a game might involve moving players betweengames, cashing out of one game and going to another, or sitting out of agame for awhile to stop losses while a teammate is winning at anothertable.

Also, although one variation would have games end at a certain time, thegames could be continuous or progressive. In a continuous game, a team'schips are totaled after a round (a preset period of time or a presetnumber of hands) is over. On another day, each team would begin a newround with the number of chips it had at the end of the previous round.In a progressive game, the team's chips could be increased or decreased,or the stakes could be higher. Each round could also involve a differenttype of poker game. The different poker games could be predetermined, orchosen by chance.

In addition, the games can take place on line over the Internet. Personsof ordinary skill will recognize how to modify existing poker games thattake place online, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,709, which is hereinincorporated by reference. Online gaming enhances the team conceptbecause it allows strategies to be carried out in the privacy of thelocations of the team members.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. The specification and examples are merelypossible implementations consistent with the claimed invention. Thefollowing claims define the scope of the invention.

1-19. (canceled)
 20. A method of playing a poker tournament onlineinvolving teams with multiple members, comprising: having the members ofeach team play hands of poker online; selecting a game-ending criterion;determining the scores of each team when the game-ending criterion ismet; and declaring a winner with the best determined score.
 21. Themethod of claim 20, further including, providing virtual chips to themembers of each team before playing the hands of poker, and whereindetermining the scores includes determining the number of virtual chipspossessed by the team members when the game-ending criterion is met. 22.The method of claim 20, wherein selecting the game-ending criterionincludes selecting a game end after a predetermined period of time. 23.The method of claim 22, wherein declaring a winner includes identifyingas the winner the team whose members have the greatest number of virtualchips.
 24. The method of claim 20, wherein selecting the game-endingcriterion includes selecting a game end after a predetermined number ofhands.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein declaring a winner includesidentifying as the winner the team whose members have the greatestnumber of virtual chips.
 26. The method of claim 20, wherein selectingthe game-ending criterion includes selecting a game end when none of themembers of a team have any virtual chips.
 27. The method of claim 26,wherein declaring a winner includes identifying as the winner a teamwith members that still have at least one virtual chip when none of themembers of another team has virtual chips.
 28. The method of claim 20,including allowing each of the teams to call a timeout.
 29. The methodof claim 20 including allowing replacement of a member of a team for ahand of poker.
 30. The method of claim 29, wherein the replacement of amember occurs during a timeout.
 31. The method of claim 21, includingallowing the cashing out of a member of a team, and allowingdistribution of the virtual chips of the member cashed out to anothermember of the team.
 32. The method of claim 20, including allowing therequest of a new deck.
 33. The method of claim 20, including allowingeach team a preset number of timeouts.
 34. The method of claim 20,including allowing each team a preset number of timeouts during a setperiod of time.
 35. The method of claim 20, including allowing each teama first preset number of timeouts during a first set period of time, andallowing each team a second preset number of timeouts during a secondset period of time.
 36. A method of playing a poker tournament onlineinvolving teams with multiple members, comprising: having the members ofeach team play hands of poker online; selecting a game-ending criterion;determining the scores of each team when the game-ending criterion ismet; declaring a winner with the best determined score; allowing eachteam a first preset number of timeouts during a first period of time;and allowing each team a second preset number of timeouts during asecond period of time.
 37. A method of playing a poker tournament onlineinvolving teams with multiple members, comprising: having at least twomembers of each team play hands of poker online; selecting a game-endingcriterion; determining the scores of each team when the game-endingcriterion is met; declaring a winner with the best determined score;allowing a member of a team to cash out and receive virtual chips beforethe game-ending criterion is met; and allowing distribution of thevirtual chips of the player cashed out to a member of the team.